Part of the reason we wanted to start this blog was to point out a few of the hidden messages that are so prevalent in media of today. I really didn’t have to look too far.
Anybody remember “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” (2009)?
Of course you do. You either loved it, or hated it. And most people would probably side with the latter.
Well, whether or not you loved it or hated it, you probably remember two distinct characters named Skids and Mudflap. Media had a wonderful time pegging them as racial stereotypes, and I am here to ask: what does it mean if they indeed are such racial stereotypes?
Does our society really condone such degrading material? Obviously there are two sides of the story and a lot of people brush it off as funny, or meaningless, but isn’t that exactly the problem? I don’t think it would be a problem if people saw the characters and said to themselves, “Wow. This depiction of black stereotypes is totally ridiculous.” The problem occurs when people see the characters and think, “Those black robots are funny.”
Oh, well. At least Skids and Mudflap were important characters, right? I mean they wouldn’t put those robots in merely so we could laugh at their “African American stereotypes,” would they?
Still, the characters serve no real purpose in the story, and when the action gets serious, they disappear entirely, notes Tasha Robinson, associate entertainment editor at The Onion."They don't really have any positive effect on the film," she said. "They only exist to talk in bad ebonics, beat each other up and talk about how stupid each other is."
-Associated Press, 2009
Whoa! Wait a second! So, do you mean to tell me that they didn’t have a major purpose? That doesn’t make too much sense to me. Why would there be such controversial characters in a movie if they didn’t need to be in the movie at all? Well, I don’t think we should get too riled up about this. Accidents happen, and it was probably a one-time thing that they didn’t foresee being a problem, so just back off, alright?!
Hmmm… right?
Hollywood has a track record of using negative stereotypes of black characters for comic relief, said
"There's a history of people getting laughs at the expense of African-Americans and African-American culture," Boyd said. "These images are not completely divorced from history even though it's a new movie and even though they're robots and not humans."
-AP, 2009
Oh, never mind. Not only has it happened before, but there is a history of it happening repeatedly over and over again. Well at least most adults are knowledgeable enough to differentiate between portrayed stereotypes and what is reality.
Director Michael Bay insists that the bumbling 'bots are just good clean fun…
"I purely did it for kids," the director said. "Young kids love these robots, because it makes it more accessible to them."
AP, 2009
Wow. Thanks, Michael Bay. Skids and Mudflap may not have contributed much to the movie’s plot, but they sure did play a large part in helping all of the kids who saw the movie to walk away from it thinking, “Those black robots are funny.”
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